Miniature Things: Lessons in Locavorism

I spent a lot of the 4th of July weekend doing local stuff. Brad and I were at his parents summer home in Beulah, MI on Crystal Lake. We kicked off the weekend right, with Mexican food, guitar songs on the patio (striking renditions of Cheeseburger In Paradise and Blackbird) and delicious drinks at the bar Thursday night at The Roadhouse. I tried out something called the Sangria Swirl, which if I can figure out how to make it, will be my new favorite drink. It's basically Sangria (red wine stewed with citrus fruits, juices, brandy, and schnapps) poured over a frozen margarita. Here it is in all it's glory. I wish the picture captured more of the swirl.

I didn't take many pictures of the festivities over the weekend (Brad's aunts and mom do all that for me), but there were highlights like the annual church lunch of a hot dog, chips, and a pop for $1, the downtown Beulah 4th of July parade, fireworks over the lake (a bit disappointing this year compared to years' past), the Beulah art fair, bike rides and morning runs around the lake, LOTS of beach time, dinner at Hungry Tummy, a visit to Empire and the Platte River, and various other things "up north." I think I'll avoid a daily play-by-play for fear of boring you, but will highlight local points of interest.
Although I say to myself every year that I'm going to go to the annual Cherry Festival in Traverse City, I somehow never seem to end up making it. The prospect of walking around in the hot sun in crowds of slow moving people reminds me a lot of the Ann Arbor Art Fair, and is generally not all too appealing and something I try to avoid (the slow people and sun, not the art). Anyhow, this year I got something close. At the smaller, quaint art fair in Beulah, I came across a photographer (Michael Thomas Impellizzeri) who takes nature photos, one of which included cherries in his own back yard! Of course I had a nice chat with him and snapped up a few of his featured works. Here's the cherries I'll hang in my kitchen (future "wall of deliciousness" project - stay tuned) and a picture of macaw feathers he took in Florida. I'm such a sucker for color.

Sunday I took a visit to Empire, MI with my mother-in-law. The road trip came about as I was reading a book called From the Vine about local Michigan wineries in preparation for my wine tour in September. I came across a page about a chocolate shop in the heart of Empire, which I knew to be only about 15 minutes from Beulah. Since I seem to be in chocolate mode lately, what with the exhibit at Henry Ford and reading The Girl with No Shadow (sequel to Chocolat), I found it a must to check out, and Patty was happy to join me. And boy am I glad we visited. We spent a fair bit of time talking to Mimi, the owner of Grocer's Daughter Chocolates, and her chocolates are divine! I had a really hard time choosing which truffles to buy, and ended up with about a baker's dozen, which wasn't nearly as many as I wanted to try (Mimi had a lot of business over the weekend and was fresh out of a lot of things). I haven't eaten many yet, but the list of chocolates waiting in my fridge includes Basil, Thyme, rosemary, lavender, honey, pomegranate ginger, sea salt caramel, cardemom, mayan, arriba, raspberry, grand marnier, and espresso. Yummy. I can't wait to gobble them up with a nice glass of red wine.

Finally, at a stop to two cute shops in Empire, I indulged in local culinary art and fulfilled my mini craving. I fell in love with this cute little painted bowl made by a local artist at the Secret Garden, and of course, had to have it to accompany my many white serving platters.

Next we crossed the street to Imagine That, where I found some mini crayons. Here they are posed with the mini markers Brad gave me for Christmas last year, and an Oscar Meyer whistle I picked up recently at the Henry Ford.